Akiyoshi
Watanabe
External Director
My Impressions of Kyushu Electric
I have served as external director for six years. My impressions are that
Kyushu Electric is deeply devoted to its mission of providing stable and
high-quality electricity to its customers. As a leading company in the Kyushu
region, Kyushu Electric also contributes proactively to economic and outreach
organizations, invests its money and the time of its employees in volunteer
activities, and is a major contributor to the local community.
At the same time, because the Company is managed from a long-term
perspective under the so-called fully distributed cost method, whereby
selling prices (electricity rates) are determined so as to generate a certain
amount of profit over costs, it seems to me that the awareness of manage-
ment efficiency, productivity enhancement and cost improvement initiatives
are less pervasive than they would be in a private-sector company. Also, the
Company is relatively impervious to economic, social and other changes in
the external environment.
The Role I Wish to Play
Since the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011, Kyushu
Electric’s operating environment has changed dramatically. Due the suspen-
sion of operations at nuclear power stations, the supply and demand situa-
tion has been problematic, and the Company has been in crisis, generating
consecutive losses for the past four years. In these few years, the Company’s
employees all have clinched their teeth and undergone structural reforms to
overcome the crisis. During this time, I have seen the Company transform
itself into a stronger entity with a will to survive into the future, even formu-
lating the Kyushu Electric Power Group Medium-Term Management Policy,
which states the goal of "aiming to become a corporate group that provides
Japan’s best energy services." As an external director, I aim to make use of
my experience at an automaker to realize this policy. In addition to the Board
of Directors, I participate in meetings of the Corporate Management Commit-
tee and management workshops, where I aim to be proactive and forthright in
expressing my opinions. With competition growing more heated, the question
will arise of how to put in place measures that truly adopt the customer’s
perspective. I hope to offer diverse advice from this important viewpoint, and
intend to do my best to help the Company survive and continue to grow.
The Corporate Governance Code went into effect for listed companies in June 2015. After taking into due consideration the gist of this code, the Company is work-
ing to further enhance its corporate governance in the aim of ensuring sustainable growth and enhancing corporate value over the medium to long term.
As one such measure, in June 2015 we increased our number of external directors from one to two to strengthen the management supervisory function.
In the following interviews with Akiyoshi Watanabe and Ritsuko Kikukawa, we ask the two external directors about their impressions of Kyushu Electric and the
roles they themselves wish to play.
CSR Management
Corporate Governance Compliance management promotion Promotion of environmental management
Interviews with External Directors Board of Directors and Auditors
35/90
Section 4
Management Base
Section 5
Financial Information
Section 3
Special Feature
Section 2
Management Message
Section 1
Kyushu Electric Power Summary
Kyushu Electric Power Company Annual Report 2015
Ritsuko
Kikukawa
External Director
My Impressions of Kyushu Electric
As soon as I was appointed external director, I toured the Genkai Nuclear
Power Station and the Matsuura Power Station, which struck me as be-
ing clean and refreshing places. With the Japanese electric power industry
getting ready to recommence operations of its nuclear power stations and
next year’s full-scale liberalization of the retail power sector, I think we are
the cusp of some major changes. In this environment, I have the sense that
morale is high across the Company, from young employees all the way to the
general managers of power stations. At a management workshop the other
day, we were exchanging opinions about management strategy going for-
ward. I was struck by shared recognition among everyone from site workers
to top management that the Company is in a state of reform.
The Role I Wish to Play
After working in government positions with Fukuoka Prefecture and then
later at the national level, I was involved in university management at Kyushu
University and the Open University of Japan. During that period, I gave birth
and raised children while being employed full time. I have to thank the woman
who was working as an engineer at Kyushu Electric for letting me read an in-
house document called "A career plan for female employees in electric power
distribution." I thought the report did a good job of summarizing the situation
of balancing work and home life and seeing from a woman’s viewpoint how to
improve working efficiency, without exaggerations or omissions. It recognized
the fundamental capabilities of female employees. Female employees are still
in a minority, and I believe that cultivating human resource diversity while tak-
ing life events into consideration contributes both to an employee’s motivation
and a company’s performance. As an external director at Kyushu Electric, I
also attend Corporate Management Committee meetings. From the perspec-
tive of a woman and a consumer, I intend to be frank in opinion exchanges,
and I hope to help the Company realize its mission, to "enlighten our future."
CSR Management
Corporate Governance Compliance management promotion Promotion of environmental management
Interviews with External Directors Board of Directors and Auditors
36/90
Section 4
Management Base
Section 5
Financial Information
Section 3
Special Feature
Section 2
Management Message
Section 1
Kyushu Electric Power Summary
Kyushu Electric Power Company Annual Report 2015